Thank you for your attentiveness and great questions when I visited your Foundations of Business Thought class recently. I enjoyed our time together and found it interesting. I hope that you heard or thought of at least one idea that can influnence your thinking and can be applied in your life. Those of you who stayed after class to share your appreciation and to ask additional questions reminded me of how much fun learning and teaching can be when working with people who care. Here's a hint: think and behave with inspiration and your professors will find even more inspiration and ideas to make your academic life fulfilling.

You are fortunate that your professors -- Drs. Chew, McInnis-Bowers, and Sudderth -- have challenged you -- and required you -- to think about your callings in life and in your profession. I often hear from adult students old enough to be your parents or grandparents that they wish they had been encouraged and taught how to develop a plan for their lives "thirty years ago."

College and Callings

Colleges provides a great opportunity to learn about subjects and people. For the wise, college also provides time to plan for your life to understand your callings, gifts and talents. Then, learning about subjects and people provides more meaning and motivation because you are learning how to use your gifts and talents to fulfill your callings. Colleges is also a great time to develop letters, mission and vision statements, and biographical summaries to help you match with people and organizations in the future--schools, employers, partners, spouses...yes, all areas of life.

All of these areas will work better for you if you develop good practices or habits in college. As I shared with you in class, if you can find purpose, motivation, and organization enough to work 40 hours per week effectively in your schoolwork, then you will likely reach your goals for school and have plenty of time for other activities you find fun and fulfilling. If you invest 40 hours per week in school, then you will still have 148 hours remaining. Regardless of what you do in life, personal leadership will affect the outcomes. Develop further your commitment and confidence levels as well as your time management skills now.

As I shared with one of you after class, when you are not sure of the destination, focus on doing your best in the journey. If your commitment to college at the moment is at "C" because you are not sure what you will do after college are not completely sure why you are in college, then focus on doing your best anyway. Give an "A" effort on those important parts of your life. Invest in developing your levels of commitment, courage and confidence. This is part of the process that can lead you to discovering and fulfilling your highest callings.